1. Why calculate meeting cost?
Meetings don't just cost "time" — they burn payroll. Eight people in a one-hour meeting averages $1,500 – $3,000 in fully-loaded cost. Putting that number on a screen changes meeting behavior faster than any "agenda-only" policy.
2. Per-minute formula
cost/min = salary × overhead ÷ (52 × 40 × 60)
- 52 weeks × 40 hours = 2,080 hours (standard working year).
- Overhead multiplier accounts for benefits, payroll tax, equipment, office space.
- Default 1.30 (US average). Large tech firms often use 1.40 – 1.80.
3. Role presets
Use Junior / Senior / Manager / Director / VP presets when individual salaries are unknown — they track global median compensation. Override with "Custom" for precise estimates in your market.
4. When opportunity cost matters more
The dollar figure is a proxy. The real loss is often what those people could have shipped: six engineers × one hour = six engineer-hours of focused work = potentially a feature release.
5. Meeting culture checklist
- No agenda shared in advance → cancel.
- No decision-maker in the room → cancel or convert to async.
- More than 8 attendees → likely half are just listening. Prune the list.
- Default 30/60-min slots when 15 would do → compress.
- Review recurring meetings monthly: "is this still earning its slot?"
6. References
- Harvard Business Review — "Stop the Meeting Madness" (2017).
- Atlassian State of Work — time spent in meetings.
- Shopify's 2023 calendar purge case study.